Monster
The Horror of Frankenstein
Ahh, just as I was about to go to bed, having finished and (briefly) written up Humanoids From the Deep, I spotted that ITV4 were running Hammer’s The Horror of Frankenstein. In HD.
Well, how on earth could I refuse? Horror of Frankenstein is a fabulously tongue-in-cheek offering from Hammer in their latter days. As something like the sixth in their Frankenstein films, it’s much heavier on the camp action, the smiling buxom women and the smutty jokes than it is on the suspense (Sample line: “I really need to go home and complete my anatomy homework. Will you help me, Maggie?” “Oooh yes, shall I take my clothes off now or later?”) but sometimes a bit of cinematic trash is more than welcome. Hell, did I say sometimes? Cinematic trash is always welcome!
Humanoids From the Deep
Sometimes it’s nice to follow one movie with a similarly themed one. But, I asked, where on earth do you go after The Island of the Fishmen? How could I possibly follow up this Roger Corman distributed, low-budget thriller about an island plagued by half-men, half-fish creatures?
Well… how about a Roger Corman produced, low-budget thriller about a small town plagued by half-men, half-fish creatures? It’s time for Humanoids From the Deep! (1996 version)
The Killer Shrews
If I asked you to think of a fictional movie-title that would be undoubtedly awful, entirely silly and should probably never be made, do you think you could come up with better than The Killer Shrews?
Sometimes I really do wonder how on earth these things get pitched before creation. THis is low budget, but no so low that it didn’t have some funding. The conversation must have gone something along the lines of:
Lady Terminator
Oh me, oh my. Where to begin?
Sometimes, someone recommends you a film and it’s pretty good. You note down the recommendation, you go off and watch it and you are pleased. This friend of yours made a good recommendation.
Sometimes however, the recommended film is so mind-bendingly brilliant/bizarre that you are left in shock; you are almost angry that no-one has recommended this film before. Lady Terminator was made 1983. That means it has existed for all 21 years of my life. With this firmly in mind, how is it possible that I haven’t seen it before? The world has been hiding a gem from me!
Death Line a.k.a. Raw Meat
This poster bears stunningly little resemblence to the film. How puzzling.
For a long while, the disused stations of the London Underground have interested me; despite being closed, many years out of service, they’re still…. there. They sit, lurking under city streets, completely forgotten by the people who walk past their once-entrances or sit on trains that rush past their once-platforms. Some of them can still be seen from trains, some of them were converted to war-time bunkers and still have propaganda posters on the walls, some them house plague-ridden cannibals, tucked well away from the city’s lights.